Well another year
has passed and my dear friend Rob Cope
who has created this website has been
very patient with me as ever and has not
nagged me into a stupor because I havent
updated this page for so long. He
knows that I am now a doddering old fool
and therefore has cut me some slack, for
which I am very grateful. So the
fault dear solitary reader is mine not
his. I remain in Robs debt for
the superb service he provides for me
because for some reason that he alone can
explain, he likes me.Well I cant
think of any other reason anyway.

So
the last year has followed a pattern it
seems. I spent a lot of time all
over the UK meeting all you lovely people
who like Doctor Who so much and are
tolerant of Old Sixie and his costume. In between I have done a few Big Finish
stories of which I continue to be proud
of and love making. As I have repeatedly
asserted, were I to be asked to pop up to
the Moat Studios for a couple of days
every week I would consider that an
elegant semi-retirement. Sadly Doctors
are becoming as thick on the ground as ex
Managers of Chelsea Football Club
(apologies for the non-Geek reference
 but that is my particular area of
interest  I suppose I could have
said  actors who have played
Batman) and they are all muscling in on
the act after Peter, Sylv and I blazed
the original trail for them.

But
I did also film my role in Star Trek
Continues in Florida last January as
a result of my meeting the impossibly
handsome and energetic Vic Mignogna at a
Comicon in 2014. He told me of his
project and showed me what they had done
and although, I was not a regular viewer
of Star Trek, I had seen enough to
realise that his vision of boldly going
in exactly the same direction as the
original series was meticulously and
superbly realised. How could a Doctor
resist an an opportunity to vacate the
TARDIS for the Starship Enterprise for a
short while. Though my character
never got to visit the Enterprise, I did
and sat in Captain Kirks seat and
went through the wonderful whooshing
doors onto the bridge. The cast were very
welcoming, fun and simply brilliant
 so that was a high  and a
great start to 2015.

Later
in the Spring I recorded The Two
Doctors novelisation, which was great
fun, as I got to do allt he voices.
I havent heard the finished result
but am told it has worked out alright.

In
August I celebrated my 20th
anniversary as a columnist for the Bucks
Free Press  my local
newspaper  another milestone that I
am quite proud of. I am not sure
how many other weekly columnist have
managed to maintain an uninterrupted
weekly contribution for that long.

I
made a short film in Manchester which is
yet to come out  called The LastMan on Earth  the
script of which was interesting enough to
attract me to arise from my torpor and do
something. And I am looking forward
enormously to filming Neighbours from
Hell which was originally scheduled
to be filmed last month but is now going
to done later in the year in order to
accommodate the availability of all the
members of the very strong cast.

I
also decided that Panto was perhaps
becoming too demanding in time and energy
and that it might be time to call it a
day. I must say that Christmas was
very relaxing in 2015, as a result.
But who knows  I may be tempted
back in a leisurely role like Baron
Hardup maybe one day.

I
also recorded a Celebrity version of Pointless
with my very dear friend Louise Jameson
 which I will forbear to describe
in detail in case you havent seen
it, but I will say that I did better than
the previous occasion when I was paired
with Simon (Chunky) Williams  when
we were booted out after round one 
oh the shame of it.

My
family are well. Lucy my oldest
daughter has written some delightful
childrens books which we are trying
to get published. Bindy my next
daughter is singing her heart out with
Vocal Works Gospel Choir in Bath and
doing gigs with the Rat Pack.Check
her out on YouTube - BeeBop20

Lally
(no 3) is Media manager for The Supervet
 Noel Fitzpatrick  on TV
 a genius! And Rosie  No 4 is
in her first year at Royal Central School
of drama  the baton is being
carried on I am delighted and terrified
to say!

HAPPY
NEW YEAR 2015!

It is a year since
I last updated this blog.I suppose
I should therefore stop calling it a blog
and call it my Christmas message, if her
majesty will forgive me for comparing
myself with her  although she has
set a handy precedent.But then she
is an old queen and can do what she likes
whereas I am perhaps Id
better stop there or the Tower of London
might be put to good use again.

It
was a year when acting played a minor
part in my calendar.In fact after
panto the only acting job on stage that I
had was sadly curtailed during rehearsal,
when I was unwell and could no longer
play James Bridges in Nick Wilkes
lovely play Mog Bridges.Fortunately
they had time to rehearse a replacement
to save the day for the show, but I was
appalled to have to let down my old
friend and colleague Nick and Malvern
Theatre which has always been one of my
favourite touring venues.

I
also took the decision not to do a panto
this year for the first time in many
years.I was committed to attend
Conventions in Sweden and America at the
beginning of December and my experience
in 2012 when I went straight from the
Jungle (yes it really was two whole years
ago) to dress rehearsals of panto made me
realise that as the years pass pacing
oneself a little more carefully is not a
bad idea.I also wanted to spend a
Christmas for once when I spent more than
the day itself with my family, without
shows on Christmas Eve and Boxing Day. The end result of course was that I ate
and drank far more than I have been able
to do in past years and am contemplating
the arduous task of shedding even more
weight as the New Year dawns.Heigh
ho.What the heck!It was
fun.

The
Swedish Convention in Stockholm enabled
my wife to join me for the first time in
around 25 years at one of these events. We had met while working in Sweden on a
production of Private Lives in 1981 and
we were able to revisit one or two of the
places that we spent time in then and
revive (for me at least) some happy
memories.I flatter myself that she
agrees with me.

2015
seems to also be a year in which I will
be visiting fans around the world who are
kind enough to want to meet a pensioned
off time lord.

But
of course I have been also continuing to
ply my trade as an actor  for Big
Finish.As you know I would happily
work for Big Finish every day of the week
if they asked me to.I have loved
the opportunity they have given me to
chart the unfathomed waters of Old
Sixies peregrinations around cosmos
and chronos. The standard of
writing remains as high as it has always
been and the opportunity to work with the
calibre of actor that Big Finish are
clearly able to attract because of the
standard of the work  as well as
Toby, the studio owners magnificent
lunches- is irresistible.

I
already have two dates in my Big Finish
diary for 2015 and hope there will be
many more.

I
am also off to America in January to take
part in a rather exciting project 
Star Trek Continues.

My
good friend and actor/voice-over supremo
 Vic Mignogna has already made
three beautifully accurate episodes of
what I can only describe as Original Star
Trek.He plays Kirk (superbly) and
the look feel and style are identical to
the originals. He has invited me to guest
in his fourth episode and I hesitated for
less than second before agreeing.A
Doctor in Star Trek?Unmissable. Next stop  The Death Star!

I
would like to thank all of you who have
maintained an interest in my career in
general and this website in particular
despite my failure to blog more often. I would especially like to thank Rob Cope
who has been a loyal friend and website
supremo despite my inadequacies as a
subject of that website. He does a
brilliant job and I hope I will have
enough of interest happening over the
next months to enable him to keep you
informed of my diary and doings.

I
did turn down one or two things in 2014
because I didnt want to tour again
so soon after my last tour and because my
availability was limited.Ive
also had a dodgy knee which didnt
help my mood or manoeuvrability over the
last few months.Mercifully that
has been sorted  well for the
moment anyway  so I am looking
forward to a more active 2015 and to
perhaps seeing you dear blog reader at
some Convention or event or stage door.
WHO knows?

Happy New Year all
of you, be happy, be lucky and behave.

DECEMBER 2013 -
Christmas Thoughts

Well wat a year it
has been.The 50th
Anniversary celebrations have taken me
all over the world and it has been a
great experience to meet so many people
whose love of our favourite programme is
strong enough to convince them that
its worth gathering together to
celebrate.

Since I last updated this
Blog I have spent some very happy hours
filming in Cardiff for the no longer
secret (thank goodness) project  The
Five Doctors (ish) Reboot. I
must immediately put on record here my
admiration and respect for Peter Davison
for having the tenacity and hutzpah to
get this project off the ground.His
script as you will all now know was very
clever and very funny and he and his
daughter Georgia managed to persuade any
number of unlikely people in the world of
Who to become not only participants but
supporters of a project that they might
have had reservations about were it not
for Peters doggedness in sticking
to his guns about the content of the
script and Mrs Tennants undeniable
and irresistible charm in persuading the
powers that very much be to support his
efforts.The end result was very
well received and it was lovely that our
families were able to join in the
celebrations in such a fun way.

As
far as the 50th anniversary
show is concerned  do you know I
have still havent had time to watch
it.I decided that I would rather
sit down and watch it with my family
rather than as a part of the whole
brouhaha of watching it at the BFI in a
full cinema  despite the 3D
enticement.Because I went straight
from the 50th bash off to
Chicago for the big celebration there and
then straight back off the plane into
panto, I genuinely have not had the time
when all my girls are free to watch it. I am looking forward to doing that panto
finishes in January.

I
do of course now know that Tom Baker is
in it.I had not expected any of us
oldies to take part I must
confess and it was a surprise when I
discovered Tom had been offered a role. It did of course explain why he had been
so elusive when Peter had asked him to
join in our offering, which we intended
to be our way of celebrating with the
fans in the knowledge that we were
surplus to requirements in the official
offering on the BBC.And at this
point I will challenge the national
presss misquotation of me on that
subject. I was asked as part of a lengthy
interview  somewhere or other
 whether we oldies
would be in the anniversary show.I
replied I thought it unlikely as we were
probably surplus to
requirements. In true press
hyperbole style this induced some dailies
to assert that I had slammed the
BBC for judging us to be surplus for
requirements.Nothing could
be less true.No
slamming just a rather ironic
and slightly rueful assessment of the
realities of life.

I
concede that casting Tom alone did rub a
little salt in a graze, as it were 
but no more than that.

Yes
of course we could have played cameos as
non-doctor characters. It would have been
for the long term fans only and the
majority of the audience would probably
have missed it completely but The Five
Doctors(ish) has kept me happy and
it seems the many thousands who have
seen/downloaded itwere delighted
and enjoyed it.Nuff said.

I
also went to New York, Newcastle and
Orlando and met lots of lovely warm and
encouraging fans.

Big
Finish continues to offer exciting and
irresistible scripts and projects 
and long may it continue.I am
already scheduled to do more in the New
Year.

Currently
panto is occupying my almost every waking
moment  I am Abanazar in Aladdin in
Basingstoke at The Anvil Theatre until
January 5th, having a fun time
with a lovely cast.

Like
last year when I had just two days
rehearsal for panto when I came out of
the Jungle (gosh is it really a year?)
 I arrived in Basingstoke long
after all the rest of the cast because I
was celebrating Dr Who in Chicago while
they were rehearsing.But we have
now been open a week and all is well.

There
were two lovely lady fans at the Stage
Door last night all the way from Perth
Australia who generously presented me
with a knitted  Sixie and
Evelyn my lovely companion from the Big
Finish audios.People are so
generous.

So
thank you all for still caring about this
wandering player and his work.My
imperfect dedication to this site is only
a measure of how busy you all keep me
 and not of my gratitude to you all
for caring.

Happy
Christmas and have a Joyous anniversary
year  because after all the
anniversary has only just started!

And
the best of Gallifreyan regards to Peter
Capaldi as he starts his most enjoyable
odyssey

MARCH 18,
2012: Spring At Baker Towers

Is it really
five years that you have all been
kind enough to log on to this
website and see how your humble
blogger has been faring and what
Im up to generally and
professionally? Five years 
gosh! And it would be wrong of me
to allow this anniversary to go
past without reiterating my great
thanks to Rob Cope who has
mastered the intricacies of web
design and maintenance at the
same time as being endlessly
patient when this old codger
forgets to update him about my
doings. Part of the problem is
that he is so competent and
knowledgeable that I seem to
expect him to know things by
osmosis.

I know it therefore Rob
must know it too!

Clearly this is asking a lot
 but he is always very
forgiving when he is the last to
know something!

Today, as I write this, its
Mothers' Day and the sun is
shining  Spring is nibbling
away at the Buckinghamshire
countryside outside my window. I
am grabbing a few minutes away
from the chores at Baker Towers
to share with you all a few words
about what is going on in my
life.

I have agreed to go on tour with
a really exciting new play by
Chris Paling called The Final
Test. It is beautifully written
piece about a man who is perhaps
a little too fond of his
crossword and the cricket to know
what is actually going on a round
him and has to deal with the
consequences of that lack of
attention to the people in his
life. I mustnt tell you any
more about the plot, as it would
spoil your fun if (as I hope) you
all come and see it while it is
on tour this summer. It opens in
Lincoln on May 31st and tours for
the next three months to venues
all around England and Wales
(alas no Scottish dates at the
moment) You can check the venues
elsewhere on this site. The play
is being toured by Ian Dickens
International  the same
producer for whom I did Woman in
White last year. Also in the cast
will be Peter Amory and Karen
Ford who were both also in Woman
in White, which I am delighted to
report will also probably be
touring again later in the year
to some of the theatres we
didnt appear at in 2011.

Before that I shall be recording
a few Big Finish audios in April,
as I will not be available to
record any for a few months after
then. As you know, I am always
delighted to get back in to Moat
Studios to revive the doings of
Old Sixie, and his
endless stream of excellent
companions  one of the
vintage ones will be returning
imminently! I shall also be
recording an exciting and spooky
audio drama for Moonscape
Productions in the West Country
soon. It is called 'Abercorn
House' and is written by Kirby
Fraser. Im looking forward
to going down there in a couple
of weeks time to record it.

Ive been enjoying a rare
opportunity to attend a few games
at Adams Park where my local team
Wycombe Wanderers play their home
matches. Im a season ticket
holder but usually Im on
tour and we always work on
Saturdays in the theatre, which
are invariably two shows days, so
I miss a lot of matches. Mind
you, my presence doesnt
seem to have worked wonders as
were struggling at the
bottom of League 1, though we are
showing recent encouraging signs
of a late come back and recovery.
Fingers crossed.

Life at Baker Towers remains as
hectic as ever. Our Jack Russell
puppy, Henry Herbert, is keeping
us on our toes. He is
simultaneously the naughtiest and
the most beguiling dog we have
ever had. His favourite trick is
to grab something he thinks you
might like/want/need and then leg
it, stopping to waggle it at you
as if to say Come on -
chase me! He also has a
slightly protruding lower jaw and
a snaggle tooth which add to the
raffish and comical air. The end
result is we have fewer
hairbrushes, pens, pencils, loo
rolls than we should  but
were never bored. And if we
do get cross with him he just
rolls over and presents his tummy
for a tickle. I wish I could get
away with that when people are
cross with me. Maybe I should try
it. On the other hand .

FEBRUARY 2,
2012: Come Panto With Me - and
after!

Well, panto
is over and I am sufficiently
recovered now to send my
greetings to all of you who are
kind enough to give a hoot what I
have been up to since October
when I last blogged. The Woman in
White tour ended just before
panto started and was one of my
happier experiences on the road.
They were a great company of
actors and were all waiting
to hear whether the play is going
to be touring again later in the
year. Provided that I am free, I
would be more than happy to give
my Count Fosco another airing to
those areas of the UK that
havent yet seen the play.
Its a great story; and now
weve played it to a dozen
or so towns, we know the areas
that need tightening up and it
could be even better next time
out.

As soon as that tour ended I got
caught up in the exhausting
process of recording Come
Dine With Me, which many of
you may have seen when it went
out in the week between Christmas
and New Year on Channel Four.

My first reaction when my agent
said that they wanted me to do it
was to say Not for all the
tea in China! - I genuinely
am not ,and never have been,
anything resembling a cook, let
alone a cook with pretensions to
giving dinner parties for anyone
 let alone four strangers.
But, as always, my family urged
me to do it and I decided not to
be a wuss and thought What
the heck! As long as I dont
poison the unknown foursome, it
could be a laugh!

Fortunately, a lovely actress
called Karen Ford (who had played
Mrs Michelson in Woman in White)
had entertained the cast after
the show one night with a superb
dish that she had said was
easy to do, when we
all declared how wonderful it
was. It was a slow cooked
shoulder of pork and was
mouth-wateringly stunning. So, I
got the recipe off her and had a
couple of practices on my family
before the big day. Im glad
I did because one or two of the
other celeb cooks were literally
winging it on their nights, it
seemed. Anyway Karens pork
won the day for me and I collared
£1000 for my local dog charity
 The Stokenchurch Dog
Rescue Society which was
fab! The process was exhausting
though. Most nights I didnt
get home until long after 2am
from the other peoples
houses  and on my night,the
camera crew arrived at 9am and
the last person left at 5-30 the
following morning! I genuinely
dont know how they do it,
because we only had to do it for
that week. The production team
and crew have to do it week after
week. They were a great lot
though and seemingly still
retained a sense of humour and
some energy. Heaven knows how.
Funnily enough it was the two
young ones of the
celebs who found the
pace unbearable and kept falling
asleep over dinner. And they were
the ones who were used to going
out clubbing all night! We three
older diners, who generally view
any time after midnight as alien
territory to be avoided, seemed
to hold out much better and keep
our sense of humour. Linda Nolan
made me laugh a lot. She was
great fun.

As soon as that finished and I
had had a few hours sleep, it was
into panto time. The Mansfield
Palace Theatre. I dont know
what I did expect, but it
wasnt that I would come
away saying that was my best
panto experience ever. But it
truly was. The cast were, without
any small exception,the nicest
bunch of performers Ive
ever worked with  and
talented in equal measure too.
The Palace Theatre is a little
gem that I had never been to
before. And the management and
crew made us all feel more
welcome than I have felt in a
theatre for years. If you had
told me before I went there, that
I would say I cant
wait to go back to
Mansfield, I
wouldnthave believed you.
But its true and I hope I
get to work there again. And I
hope too that I get to work with
all or any of the cast. We were
genuinely sorry to leave each
other. Usually I have to be, let
us say, 'diplomatic' in one or
two cases when I leave a job.

Now I am at home with a diary
full only of Conventions and
signing events at the moment, but
for a few weeks I wont be
agitating to get work. My
agents phone isnt
getting red-hot yet, though in a
few weeks I might arise from my
torpor like Smaug and start
harassing him.

The good news is that my book of
short stories,
Gallimaufry is, even
as I write this, being printed.
Yippee. Tim Hirst, the publisher,
had to wait longer than I would
have liked for my final
manuscript, which I delivered
before Christmas at his busiest
time, poor chap. But we have been
through the setting out and proof
reading processes and I am really
pleased with how it looks. I only
hope that the reading of it
provides some pleasure to the
countless millions (I wish!)
whobuy it. There are a couple of
stories in particular that I am
especially proud of and hope that
they find favour. Perhaps
its time for me to dig a
novel out from the recesses of my
chaotic imagination. Id
like to give it a go before
senility creeps in, anyway!

I am enjoying my Twitter life -
both in reading other
peoples wittering and
chuntering on myself. The joy of
Twitter is that you can take it
or leave it, follow who you like
and others can do ditto. When the
odd numpty becomes abusive or
irritating, you can just block
them and they go away, well at
least as far as you are
concerned. Most Tweeters are
lovely  and, of course,
brief  which is the joy of
Twitter. Whenever I can, I scroll
through the @mentions and answer
a couple, although I can assure
you that if I answered all of
them, I would get nothing else
done at all. Not showing off
 just explaining. So
dont feel rejected or
ignored if you tweet and get no
response. There just arent
the hours in the day, Im
afraid.

My next event is a trip to
Prestatyn this weekend to Pontins
for the SFX event, at which it
appears there will be hordes of
folk. Should be fun. See you
there perhaps? And in two weeks
time  Belfast. Im
really doing the UK this month!
Check elsewhere on this site for
full details of all .
Springs on its way. Hooray!
And my thanks yet again to Rob
Cope website maestro and guardian
of my reputation for keeping this
site so interesting and as
up-to-date as he can given my
terrible memory!

OCTOBER 10,
2011

Once again I
should start by apologising for
the length of time it has taken
me to update this occasional
Blog. But it gets tedious if I
always start by saying
Sorry and making
feeble excuses  so I
wont. Although I am.
Anyway .

Since my last update I have been
trotting around England being
Count Fosco in The Woman in
White. The production, I am
delighted to report, has been
very well received everywhere,
since we opened in Wolverhampton
back in July. The reviews have
been very positive, which has
surprised all as we had, to be
honest, been worried that a play
which is in total pretty much
three hours long might prove too
much for most people. We hoped we
were doing a good job but feared
for the staying power of the
audience! But such is the
strength of the original story by
Wilkie Collins that the length of
the play doesnt seem to
bother people. That is useful to
know for the future. I have been
in plays that have been around
two hours forty five minutes long
in the past and people have
complained that that was too
long. Clearly, if what the
audience is watching is
sufficiently gripping, then the
time will go quickly.

I guess too that the adaptation
by Nicola Boyce and the actors
can and should take some of the
credit as the cast is very strong
throughout  and it is a
larger cast than one might
normally see on tour these days;
so the producer, Ian Dickens,
should be commended for taking
the risk of sending out such an
expensive production when times
are so tough financially.

It has been a great cast to work
with and all of them have become
good friends over our three
months together. Most of us
shared a house when we were in
Derby and had the best week
Ive had on tour for many a
long year. We rented a big old
mansion near Ashbourne and stayed
up far too late and talked far
too much. But it was great. As I
write this, we have only three
weeks to go before the tour ends;
so if you are in Crewe this week,
Malvern next week or Taunton the
week after, come and see us, if
you havent done so already.

Otherwise, I must confess that I
have still failed to deliver the
final version of my book of short
stories to Hirst Books, so the
delayed production of it remains
my fault and not the
Publishers. Sorry - all of
you who paid up front. I promise
you that Iwill complete the final
bit before my tour ends in three
weeks time and deliver it to Tim
Hirst. Otherwise all is well at
Baker Towers. No 1 daughter Lucy
has started her second Year as a
Primary Schoolteacher. My second
daughter Bindy whohas been in
Rhodes since April as a quarter
of an ABBA tribute band has
returned, slimmer, browner and
glad to be home  and is now
 as is the norm in the
entertainment business 
looking for the next gig. No 3
 Lally  is all
graduated and ready forthe fray
 but in common with all
those other young hopeful
graduates lookingfor the right
job, while doing a temporary
unpaid internship for an animal
charity. Rosie my fourth daughter
is still saving her pennies as
fast as she can before
auditioning for Drama School.

We have a new dog  a Jack
Russell puppy now five months
oldwho is a complete NUTTER! His
name is Henry Herbert. He is very
funny and very naughty and has
fitted very well into the
existing menagerie.

My wife and I managed to grab a
three day holiday in
Cornwall during a weekout from
Woman in White and were lucky to
do so during that wonderful
weather at the beginning of
October. We both share a love of
Cornwall and dream of downsizing
there whenthe girls finally flee
the nest. If ever!

Panto approaches fast. Although I
have a day or two in audio
studios coming up  not sure
if Im allowed to say what
Im doing so to be on the
safe side I wont say what
Im doing now and will
update in the fullness of time.

I still havent found
anywhere to live while Im
in Mansfield and really should be
doing something about that
instead of writing this probably
 but I have never been a
very good time manager and felt a
sudden stab of guilt for Rob Cope
whose continuing generosity of
spirit keeps this web site
running.

The most exciting thing that has
happened to me this year arose
because of very sad
circumstances. My dear friend,
the much loved Nick Courtney died
this year, as I mentioned in my
last blog. As a result the
Presidency of the Doctor Who
Appreciation which he so rightly
and gloriously held after the
first President Jon Pertwee was
taken from us, became vacant. I
was astonished and humbled when I
was contacted by DWAS to ask if I
might consider accepting the Hon.
Presidency. Anyone who has seen
me at a Convention knows that I
am not normally at a loss for
words; but on this occasion both
given the status (in my eyes) of
my predecessors and the wealth of
other Doctor Who luniaries
available, it did not occur to me
that I might be in the frame for
this great honour. I am very,
very touched that the membership
who voted consider me a suitable
person to bear the grat seal -
and I do most sincerely hope that
I will be in charge of it for
some considerable time. But I
must be circumspect here - I did
- remember - say I wanted to beat
Tom Baker's seven years as the
Doctor when I got that job. So I
shall just be honoured and humble
and shut up now!

We have also just seen another
fabulous new season of the
programme reach a very complex
and stunning conclusion. I loved
it and cannot understand those
few fans who say they don't. I
think Matt Smith just gets better
and better and for me just IS the
Doctor. No question. I hope he
stays on for some time. He and
Steven Moffat are a winning
combination - long may it
continue. And bring on the
labyrinthine plots, I say!

As for next year for me  it
is at the moment an open and
empty diary after panto. I was in
the running for a rather nice
tour but someone else recently
pipped me to the post for that
 so that's another actor's
name to add to me grudge list!
Watch this space basically. I
shall notify Rob as soon as I
know what is afoot.

Full Colin
Blog archives will be available
soon.

Thanks go to the Potteries Prydonians -
Steve Worman and Paul Wood - for their help, Ron Brunwin
for supplying artwork and Garry Jones for being a regular
stalwart of the news section.
Extra special thanks go to the mighty Colin Baker himself
for casting his mind back and helping catalogue his
career.